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After 77 Years, Murray Restores British Rule

WIMBLEDON, England — Whatever will the British talk about next year at Wimbledon?

For 77 years, they had Fred Perry and the noble yet clearly star-crossed search for his successor as a conversation starter in the early summer days at the All England Club.

But now, in a flurry of booming serves and full-stretch forehand winners, Andy Murray has given them the privilege of moving on.

On Sunday before the start of the men’s final, fans in broad-brimmed hats and sunscreen stopped as usual to pose for pictures and pay tribute at the bronze statue of Perry, just outside Centre Court. A debonair Englishman, Perry won the last of his three Wimbledon singles titles in 1936. But by late afternoon, with shadows extending across the game’s most historic court, he no longer stood alone.

Murray, a 26-year-old Scotsman with a rolling gait and a deep competitive streak, put a convincing end to the long drought in singles for the British men at the tournament. He managed it by defeating Novak Djokovic, the No. 1 seed, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.

“Let’s Make History,” read one of the many signs waved inside Centre Court on this warm day full of roars and shouts. And so Murray, long frustrated and even driven to tears by losing last year’s final, systematically proceeded to do just that.

The No. 2 seed, Murray made history by proving better in the clutch and on the run than Djokovic, the game’s premier defender. Murray made it by rallying from a break of a serve down in each of the last two sets and then shrugging off the loss of three match points and a 40-0 lead in the edgy final game on his own serve.

Murray kept hustling, kept hoping, as so many British men have hustled and hoped through the decades: from Bunny Austin to the perennial semifinalist Tim Henman, who long carried the British burden here with dignity.

This ending, however, broke new ground. On Murray’s fourth match point, Djokovic — scrambling to keep the rally going after a desperation return of Murray’s first serve — struck a two-handed backhand into the tape.

With that last sound effect, this high-profile final was history.

“That last game will be the toughest game I’ll play in my career, ever,” Murray said.

After such a lengthy vigil, it was reasonable to expect something extraordinary: a back flip, a rainbow, a Centre Court conga line, perhaps a spontaneous and perfectly pitched “God Save the Queen” from the crowd.

But the celebration — tinged with relief — stuck to the now-customary climb into the player box and the jacket-and-tie protocol that has long applied to the trophy ceremony.

The winner, however, was an original, and not just because he was the first British man to win this title in shorts.

“Somebody had to break this elusive, holy grail type of thing, and I’m glad it was Murray,” said Pat Cash, the former Wimbledon champion from Australia who has lived in Britain for nearly 30 years. “You needed a tough, gritty kid to do it. He may not be the perfect, Tim Henman-type English guy with a middle-class upbringing. He’s a gritty young Scotsman, and you need a bit of that attitude to win these things.”

After Djokovic’s backhand struck the net, Murray stripped off his cap, pumped both fists in the direction of the stands and eventually dropped to the grass, pitching forward into a crouch, alone with his thoughts and consummated dreams.

Murray then rose and shook hands with and embraced Djokovic, an old friend and rival. He later made his way to the players box to embrace his family, friends and extensive support team, including his coach, Ivan Lendl. He nearly forgot his mother and boyhood coach, Judy Murray, before reversing course and hugging her, too.

Then came the once-perilous on-court interview, where Murray had broken down, microphone in hand, after losing a lead and the final to Roger Federer last year.

“It feels slightly different to last year,” Murray said, proving that understatement extends to Scotland. “Last year was one of the toughest moments of my career, so to manage to win the tournament today, it was an unbelievably tough match.”

It has not been 77 years since a British player won at Wimbledon. Virginia Wade won the women’s singles title in 1977. But the British men kept swinging and missing until Murray finally arrived: a once-in-a-generation talent from the unlikely tennis destination of Dunblane.

The town was better known for tragedy than triumph until Murray’s achievements because of a massacre at his primary school in March 1996, when a gunman shot and killed 16 students and a teacher.

Murray, who was in attendance that day, rarely discusses the incident publicly, but it has been a subtle driving force for him and his tennis family, which includes his older brother, Jamie, once a leading doubles player, and their mother, a former professional player who is now Britain’s Fed Cup captain.

“It’s incredibly difficult to win these events,” he said. “I don’t think that’s that well understood sometimes. It takes so much hard work, mental toughness.”

If Sunday’s final seemed to lack the full-force emotional impact that a 77-year wait would suggest, that is perhaps attributable to Murray’s achievements in the last year.

After losing in last year’s Wimbledon final, he came back to win the Olympic gold medal at the All England Club. He then won his first Grand Slam singles title — after four straight losses in finals — at the United States Open.

The Murray who returned to Wimbledon this year was more settled and confident. His draw, in terms of his opponents’ rankings, was a stroll. But he had to deal with greatness in the flexible form of Djokovic, who had beaten him 11 times in 18 matches and 3 times in a row.

“It must mean a lot to everybody,” Djokovic said of Murray’s victory. “Wimbledon is the most important tennis tournament in the world. Especially for him as a British player and the crowd, couldn’t be a more perfect setting for them. So he deserved to win, and that’s it.”

Murray and Djokovic were born a week apart, and their games, athleticism and staying power are now so similar that to watch them play is to watch equal forces canceling each other out. There is, for now, more hard labor than high art in their rivalry. The rallies Sunday were long and exhausting, the territory excruciatingly difficult to conquer, the tactical solutions largely unclear. This straight-set match lasted 3 hours 9 minutes for a reason.

Perry, a paragon of classic, attacking grass-court tennis, would have surely rubbed his eyes in disbelief at the grinding baseline style that predominated. On the court where the serve once reigned, Djokovic and Murray combined for 30 break points and 11 breaks of serve: 4 for Djokovic and 7 for Murray.

The difference was in the details. But there were broad-brush realities, too. Murray was more effective with his first serve, winning 72 percent of the points to Djokovic’s 59 percent. Djokovic, often the aggressor, was not nearly as effective at the net as he needed to be when he risked unlocking an extended point.

“I wasn’t patient enough in the moments when I should have been, when I should have looked for a better opportunity to attack,” he said.

Djokovic, who led by 4-1 in the second set and 4-2 in the third, also looked less fresh and elastic than usual. He has recovered so often from marathon matches that it now seems surprising when he fails, but his five-set, nearly five-hour semifinal win over Juan Martín del Potro on Friday appeared to exact a toll.

“It took a lot out of me,” Djokovic said, emphasizing that he was not looking for excuses. “I’ve been in these situations before. I felt O.K. Maybe physically, because I didn’t feel maybe I had enough gas in the important moments, I went for my shots more than usual.”

Murray ran down drop shot after drop shot in the final stages. Still, even in straight sets, it never appeared easy, just as Wimbledon has never felt easy to Murray since he first played in the main draw at 18.

“For the last four or five years, it’s been very tough, very stressful, a lot of pressure,” he said.

But after 77 years, and on the 7th day of the 7th month, the pressure has been released.

“I think now it will become easier,” Murray said. “I hope it will.”

A version of this article appears in print on July 8, 2013, on Page D1 of the New York edition with the headline: After 77 Years, Murray Restores British Rule. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe